E-commerce Usability: Description of Customer Centred Design Process

Description of Customer Centred Design Process

The first stage is to analyse the opportunity. This stage provides the business context for the web site: within this stage you should identify the stakeholders, identify why the site is being developed, and segment the market for the site.

The second stage is to build the context of use. This results in a rich description of customers, the environment in which they access the site and a description of realistic activities or 'task scenarios' .

The third stage is to use these data to create the user experience. This is an iterative process. You start by developing key performance indicators for the web site: quantitative measures, based on key customer and business requirements, that the management team use to determine if the site is ready to 'go live'. next, you develop the information architecture (the high-level, conceptual model), and then lay out the screens (the detailed design), starting with paper sketches and moving to electronic slide shows or interactive prototypes. The final part of the iteration is to evaluate the site’s usability, by using both usability experts and representative customers.

The final step in the process is to track real world usage and continuously improve the site once it has been deployed.